On June 1st 1995, Alan made the difficult but inevitable decision to leave Depeche Mode and announced his departure: "The overriding reason for my departure, above all else, was that since '93 I hadn't really been enjoying life in the group enough to warrant sticking with it, especially given that I didn't feel there was anything more I could personally achieve within its boundaries. I have to say that I never had any doubts that it was the right thing to do at the right time for me. My involvement with Depeche has been good to me and I am grateful for the wonderful memories and the enviable position it has left me in. I'm proud of my involvement with 'The Singles 86-98' which effectively represents 10 years of hard but satisfying work. There were one or two bleak moments but at the end of the day it was all worth it - and who could ask for anything more?" After a 2 year break, characterised by the seriousness of Dave's heroin dependency (which resulted in a suicide attempt followed by a period of rehabilitation), Depeche Mode tentatively returned to the studio without Alan. To replace him, they recruited 'Bomb The Bass' DJ Tim Simenon and his team of programmers, keyboardists and engineers. The resulting album 'Ultra' was released on 14th April 1997, the singles from which complete this compilation.